Zampa's rise a tale of opportunities seized
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Wednesday, 20 April 2016
County cricket – as it happened
Today we had Ali Martin at Headingley for Yorkshire v Hampshire and Mike Selvey reporting from Lord’s as
Middlesex hosted WarwickshireTea at Headingley and when a full of life morning, this game is heading for handshakes despite the fine efforts of Hampshire’s bowlers, World Health Organization picked up another 3 wickets within the session. geographical region 149-7 lead by 289,
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Sunday, 10 April 2016
Knight Riders' experience v Daredevils' youth
Big Picture
Gautam Gambhir v Quinton de Kock. Robin Uthappa v Shreyas Iyer. Yusuf
Pathan v Karun Nair. Andre Russell v Carlos Brathwaite. Shakib Al Hasan v
Pawan Negi. T20 experience v T20 exuberance. An ensemble cast v a bunch
of apprentices.
Kolkata Knight Riders' push for their third title has become stronger, with Sunil Narine's reworked action getting a clean chit from the ICC two days before the start of the tournament. Narine, however, isn't a certainty for the first match, having returned to West Indies following his father's death. Shakib is ever present in Knight Riders' attack, and Brad Hogg, 45, the inspiration behind T20I's oldest debutant Ryan Campbell, is still fit and ready to step in. Kuldeep Yadav, also a chinaman bowler, although 24 years younger than Hogg, provides another spin option. And the ensemble has got bigger with the cheap addition (INR 30 lakh, or USD 44,000 approx) of Colin Munro who can switch-hit fast bowlers for sixes. Munro is not just about brawn; he has it in him to grind it out as he showed against Mustafizur Rahman-powered Bangladesh at Knight Riders' den during the World T20.
Daredevils let go of 11 players and rebuilt their squad and support staff, laced with a flavour of Rajasthan Royals. Iyer, the torchbearer of Daredevils' youth force, is not far from breaking into the team's top-ten run-getters list, after only one IPL season. Brathwaite, who went 6,6,6,6 to seal West Indies' second World T20 title a week ago at Eden Gardens, is billed as the other face of the team. However, there are plenty of concerns in the bowling department. The injured Joel Paris has already withdrawn from the tournament, the fit-again Mohammed Shami lacks match time, and to top it all captain Zaheer Khan has not played competitive cricket since the last IPL.
In the spotlight
At the 2015 IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders sent #MuscleRussell trending. He
was called the "Dre Russ" at the Big Bash League, where the Jamaican
duck-hooked a skiddy bouncer from Doug Bollinger for a one-bounce four
over square leg. At the PSL, Andre Russell was the leading wicket-taker. He has won the BPL, BBL, PSL and World T20 this season. An IPL title will be the perfect topping.
Pawan Negi, listed at a base price of INR 30 lakh (USD 44,000 approx), was purchased for INR 8.5 crore (USD 1.3m approx) at the auction, following consistent bowling performances in the Vijay Hazare (India's domestic one-dayers) and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (the domestic T20 competition). He then made his international debut for India at the Asia Cup. Negi, a T20 specialist who was earlier with Chennai Super Kings, can also swing his bat in the lower-middle order, but a hefty price tag brings pressure. Ask Yuvraj Singh. Ask Dinesh Karthik.
Team news
If Narine isn't available, Knight Riders have a few back-up options,
including Piyush Chawla. They will have to make a choice on the pace
front between Morne Morkel and John Hastings. Morkel wasn't part of
South Africa's World T20 squad, while Hastings got only one match in
that tournament.
Kolkata Knight Riders (probable) 1 Gautam Gambhir (capt), 2 Robin Uthappa (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Shakib Al Hasan, 5 Yusuf Pathan, 6 Suryakumar Yadav, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Brad Hogg/Sunil Narine, 9 Piyush Chawla/Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Morne Morkel/John Hastings
With de Kock in good form, Daredevils will want him to open and spend as much time as possible in the middle. Sanju Samson might beat Mayank Agarwal to the XI.
Delhi Dardedevils (probable) 1 Shreyas Iyer, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Sanju Samson/Mayank Agarwal, 4 JP Duminy, 5 Karun Nair, 6 Carlos Brathwaite, 7 Pawan Negi, 8 Zaheer Khan (capt), 9 Mohammed Shami 10 Amit Mishra, 11 Imran Tahir
Pitch and conditions
With dew likely to come into play later in the night, chasing might be
the way to go at Eden Gardens. The weather is expected to be fine for
the duration of the match.
Stats and trivia
- Knight Riders' squad has an experience of 2365 matches, while Daredevils' has a count of 1471
- Gambhir is among the top run-getters for Knight Riders as well as Daredevils. He tops the list for Knight Riders with 2346 runs at a strike rate of 124.65. For his former team, Gambhir is the fourth-highest, with 1115 runs at a strike rate of 122.52
Quotes
"I feel proud to be able to play at the Eden in KKR's colours. I'm happy
with my contribution in the last few seasons… I think our team is
stronger than before."Kolkata Knight Riders allrounder Shakib Al Hasan
"He is an inspiration. I was part of Royal Challengers Bangalore when he was there and, that time, I wasn't playing so it was huge step for me to be in the same dressing room. Now having the opportunity to play under him [is] great. We can all learn so much from him."
Delhi Daredevils batsman Karun Nair on captain Zaheer Khan's influence
My T20 bowling returns have been 'reasonable' - Steyn
"I think it will be completely difficult for a batsman in T20s to be leaving a ball outside the off stump like in a Test," Steyn told cricbuzz. "Here the game implies that you score runs, so no matter who is bowling, whether it is myself or (Lasith) Malinga or (Sunil) Narine, it doesn't matter who it is, batters will make plans to score runs off every ball and try and hit boundaries. Doesn't matter who you are but it is the format that makes that happen.
"Even if I am going for a boundary in every over overall, the idea is to go for not more than six runs an over, which I have more or less maintained throughout my career. I think that is pretty reasonable for a game where teams can very easily go for 19 or 20 runs an over."
Steyn, who will turn out for Gujarat Lions in IPL 2016, has taken 178 wickets in 165 matches at an economy rate of 6.68. Since 2015, however, he has played only 10 T20 games and picked up six wickets, with an average of 50 and an economy rate of 9.09. In the IPL, he has 92 wickets from 89 games and his overall economy rate stands at 6.71. Lions will be the fourth IPL franchise Steyn will represent, after previous stints with Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
"The game is definitely changing, it is easy to score runs now and you got to understand that," he said. "People need to start understanding that it is not the 1990s where bowlers can go for three runs an over. Honestly, on an average, bowlers can easily go for 12 to 15 runs an over in this format. If we look at the overall picture, at the average and at the economy rate, I think I am doing okay."
ICC Americas office to relocate from Toronto to Colorado
In another move signifying the ICC's intent to speed up the growth of
cricket in the United States of America, ICC head of global development
Tim Anderson announced on Friday that the ICC Americas regional office
will be relocating later this year from Toronto to Colorado Springs,
Colorado.
"The ICC Americas Office has been based in Toronto, Canada for many years. The historic reasons for this have largely been based around convenience as opposed to strategy, with previous regional development managers being from Toronto," Anderson wrote in a letter to US stakeholders.
The ICC office was shared with Cricket Canada until 2015. When Cricket Canada moved out of their shared Toronto facility, the ICC office rented out a temporary space at the Rogers Centre, home of baseball's Toronto Blue Jays. "These circumstances, together with the strong strategic desire for the ICC to see cricket develop more rapidly in the USA, resulted in the ICC Executive Committee and Board agreeing in October 2015 that the ICC Americas office should be moved to the USA," Anderson said.
"Excluding the big American professional sports (i.e. NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS), Colorado Springs is the centre of sports administration in the USA, hosting close to 30 governing bodies, as well as the United States Olympic Committee. The Colorado Springs Sports Corp has demonstrated a strong desire to host the ICC Americas office and, as part of their support package, we are in discussions about the possibility of developing a new cricket facility in Colorado Springs."
Currently there is one artificial-wicket cricket facility at the city's Memorial Park athletic complex, just four blocks from the USOC training complex. It is unclear if the proposed new facility referred to by Anderson would include plans to redevelop the ground at Memorial Park into a turf wicket or if it would mean adding a new ground elsewhere in the city.
According to multiple sources, several other cities were also considered for the new home of the ICC Americas office, with Indianapolis a particularly strong contender. ICC Americas officials held multiple events in Indianapolis in 2015, including the ICC Americas Division One T20 championship and inaugural ICC Americas Combine at the newly opened turf ground at Indianapolis World Sports Park.
While Indianapolis is also home to the headquarters for the NCAA, USA Track & Field, USA Diving and USA Gymnastics, there are many more national sports governing body offices located in Colorado Springs. These include the USOC, USA Hockey, USA Basketball, USA Boxing, USA Swimming, USA Cycling and USA Wrestling.
It is for these reasons that Colorado Springs turned into an increasingly appealing strategic option in late 2015. USOC chief external affairs officer Patrick Sandusky was named to the seven-man local advisory group appointed by the ICC to oversee US cricket's regrowth strategy following USACA's suspension in June. It is also worth noting that Colorado Springs hosted an ICC youth cricket development seminar in February.
Colorado Springs is the second largest city in the state of Colorado with an approximate population of 500,000 people. It is located 70 miles south of the state capital and largest city Denver. Although it is a relatively remote outpost in the US cricket scene, it is equidistant from several major cricket hubs, sitting approximately 1000 miles, or a two and a half hour flight away, from Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco
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"The ICC Americas Office has been based in Toronto, Canada for many years. The historic reasons for this have largely been based around convenience as opposed to strategy, with previous regional development managers being from Toronto," Anderson wrote in a letter to US stakeholders.
The ICC office was shared with Cricket Canada until 2015. When Cricket Canada moved out of their shared Toronto facility, the ICC office rented out a temporary space at the Rogers Centre, home of baseball's Toronto Blue Jays. "These circumstances, together with the strong strategic desire for the ICC to see cricket develop more rapidly in the USA, resulted in the ICC Executive Committee and Board agreeing in October 2015 that the ICC Americas office should be moved to the USA," Anderson said.
"Excluding the big American professional sports (i.e. NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS), Colorado Springs is the centre of sports administration in the USA, hosting close to 30 governing bodies, as well as the United States Olympic Committee. The Colorado Springs Sports Corp has demonstrated a strong desire to host the ICC Americas office and, as part of their support package, we are in discussions about the possibility of developing a new cricket facility in Colorado Springs."
Currently there is one artificial-wicket cricket facility at the city's Memorial Park athletic complex, just four blocks from the USOC training complex. It is unclear if the proposed new facility referred to by Anderson would include plans to redevelop the ground at Memorial Park into a turf wicket or if it would mean adding a new ground elsewhere in the city.
According to multiple sources, several other cities were also considered for the new home of the ICC Americas office, with Indianapolis a particularly strong contender. ICC Americas officials held multiple events in Indianapolis in 2015, including the ICC Americas Division One T20 championship and inaugural ICC Americas Combine at the newly opened turf ground at Indianapolis World Sports Park.
While Indianapolis is also home to the headquarters for the NCAA, USA Track & Field, USA Diving and USA Gymnastics, there are many more national sports governing body offices located in Colorado Springs. These include the USOC, USA Hockey, USA Basketball, USA Boxing, USA Swimming, USA Cycling and USA Wrestling.
It is for these reasons that Colorado Springs turned into an increasingly appealing strategic option in late 2015. USOC chief external affairs officer Patrick Sandusky was named to the seven-man local advisory group appointed by the ICC to oversee US cricket's regrowth strategy following USACA's suspension in June. It is also worth noting that Colorado Springs hosted an ICC youth cricket development seminar in February.
Colorado Springs is the second largest city in the state of Colorado with an approximate population of 500,000 people. It is located 70 miles south of the state capital and largest city Denver. Although it is a relatively remote outpost in the US cricket scene, it is equidistant from several major cricket hubs, sitting approximately 1000 miles, or a two and a half hour flight away, from Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco
IPL 2016
10.4.2016 ipl 2nd match Kolkata vs Delhi Daredavils live from Eden garden Kolkata at 8 pm
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